Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1898 — PROVERBS AGAINST WOMEN. [ARTICLE]

PROVERBS AGAINST WOMEN.

The Feminine Sex Arouses Satire Daring All Ages. A proverb is defined by the learned Dr. Ray as “an instructive sentence or comment and pithy saying in which more is generally designed than expressed, famous for its peculiarity and elegance, and therefore adopted by the learned as well as the vulgar, by which ’tis distinguished authority,” says the Philadelphia Press. A large majority of proverbs are of a satirical character and are leveled against women. We find, cnriohsly enough, that the severest reflections upon the feminine sex emanate from those nations which have the reputation of being particularly gallant, notably the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Widows are invariably made the butt of ridicule, wives are dismissed with scant courtesy and maidens are treated by proverb makers as though they were worthy of constant suspicion only. “A spaniel, a woman and a walnut tree— The more they’re beaten the better still they’ll be.” “He that marries « widow and three children marries four Thieves. “He that loseth his wife and a farthing hath a great loss of his farthing.” “A dead wife is the best goods in a man’s house.” v * “Wedding and wintering lame both man and beast.” “It is good to marry late or never.”